christopher price

Patriots offense finds comfort zone in no-huddle

It remains one of the most distinguishing aspects of the Patriots offense in 2011: the no-huddle.

The Patriots have leaned heavily on the no-huddle offense this year as a basic element of their scheme, pushing the tempo at key moments over the course of the season and forcing opponents to make defensive changes on the fly. It has caught many opponents on their heels, unable to make basic defensive changes from play to play and forcing them to make quick (and often bad) decisions in hopes of keeping up with the New England offense.

Overall, according to NFL gamebooks, the Patriots offense was in no-huddle on 242 of its 1,082 snaps during the regular season, a rate of 22 percent. That percentage increases if you add in what the Patriots did in their postseason opener against the Broncos -- in that game, New England was in no-huddle for 33 of the 64 snaps, a rate of 52 percent. (That actually tied a season-high for the Patriots, who were also in no-huddle 52 percent of the time in their Oct. 16 win over Dallas.) In all, including the postseason, 275 of New England’s 1,146 plays from scrimmage were in the no-huddle, or 24 percent.

Against the Broncos, the Patriots gained 326 yards in the no-huddle, an average of 9.9 yards per play. (For the night, New England averaged 8.0 yards per play.) In that game, New England used the no-huddle to try to jumpstart its offense, which had been struggling with slow starts over the second half of the season. In the divisional playoff, the Patriots were predominantly in the no-huddle in the first quarter. The New England offense had 16 plays from scrimmage in the first quarter and was in no-huddle for eight of them, leading to 14 first-quarter points. In the first quarter in the no-huddle, Brady was 6-for-7 fir 63 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.

“I think it was certainly something that helped us,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said after the game. “We had a couple no-huddle series there at the end of the second quarter [and] start of the third quarter in Denver, and we felt like that gave them a little trouble. And then today, it looked they lost a couple safeties, and I’m sure that didn’t help the communication and we were able to pres it a bit. It seemed like we had an advantage so we tried to, like I said, continue to try to take advantage of it and try to press it a little bit.”

“It was good to see,” said wide receiver Wes Welker, when asked about going uptempo early against the Broncos. “We understand that this is the playoffs and it’s a one-game season, and we have to get in there early and make sure that we’re scoring early and put ourselves in a good position. That’s what we have to do. It was good to see this past week and we have to keep that up.”

Here’s a game-by-game look at how frequently the Patriots have run the no-huddle this season.

• 27 of 71 plays against the Dolphins.
• 15 of 67 plays against the Chargers.
• 12 of 71 plays against the Bills.
• 5 of 61 plays against the Raiders.
• 15 of 72 plays against the Jets.
• 36 of 69 plays against the Cowboys (tying a season-high 52 percent).
• 7 of 50 plays against the Steelers.
• 4 of 75 plays against the Giants (none in the first half and all on New England’s final drive).

• 12 of 67 plays against the Jets (again, none in the first half -- all 12 came on two second-half drives).
• 1 of 65 plays against the Chiefs.
• 15 of 71 plays against the Eagles.
• 23 of 63 plays against the Colts.
• 22 of 58 plays against the Redskins.
• 0 of 72 plays against the Broncos (a season low).
• 33 of 81 plays against the Dolphins.
• 15 of 69 plays against the Bills.
• Postseason: 33 of the 64 plays against the Broncos (tying a season-high 52 percent).

They should be able to use that to their advantage on Sunday, as they’ll face a Ravens defense that is a veteran group, but one that has had virtually no experience against a no-huddle offense this season. Overall, Baltimore has faced a no-huddle set on 56 of its 1,002 defensive snaps on the regular season. (Five teams didn’t run a single snap in the no-huddle, while only two teams were able to hit double figures -- Indianapolis, which ran no huddle on 15 of its 57 snaps, and Pittsburgh, which went no-huddle on 11 of its 58 snaps.) And of those, none of the teams that Baltimore faced ran it as part if anything other than an end-of-half or end-of-game scenario.

When discussing the no-huddle and its advantages, one of the things that several members of the New England offense have cautioned is that it isn’t the sort of thing you can run all the time. You need to have proper execution, as well as good timing -- for example, if you’re not going to keep your foot on the gas if you’re looking to burn the clock and slow the game down. You have to wait for the perfect moment.

More often than not this year, the Patriots offense has found that moment.

“I think it just depends on the game and depends on the situation and depends on how we’re doing, what we’re having success with and what we need to do,” Welker said. “I think our coaches do a good job of finding the times that work well for that and the times that don’t and just kind of going from there.”

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